With 11 days left, the campaign was still under 25% of its goal, so we decided to go ahead and cancel it to give us more time to prepare for a relaunch. We're going to try and do a better job spreading the word and gaining a fanbase for the game, taking it to cons and playtesting events whenever possible. It was awesome teaching new people how to play at the Little Rock Mini Maker Faire and the Little Rock Comic Con, and a friend will also be bringing a copy to Geekway to the West this weekend! So, here's hoping that getting more eyes on the game will help us for a relaunch.

Hopefully, we can relaunch within a year. We'll try to be more active on the blog and on social media, and see about reducing our goal and perhaps shipping to EU backers from within the EU to reduce costs!

If you have any questions or suggestions, we'll be around. There's also a mailing list for more immediate updates on Beast of Balka, and if you want on it, send a message to bearicadegames@gmail.com.

Yesterday,Beast of Balka was launched on Kickstarter! We at Bearicade Games are so excited to be bring our first project into the world!

During the Kickstarter campaign, you can preorder Beast of Balka for $25 ($5 less than MSRP). The game ships anywhere in the world, with free US shipping for the base game. There are also some seriously cool other rewards that you can get for backing the project, including a poster of Donny Zethmayr's awesome artwork of the Beast, an upgraded Gatherer edition that comes with a 100% organic cotton drawstring bag and playmat version of the board, a handmade resin miniature of the Beast, and more!

In the first 24 hours, Beast of Balka managed to raise almost $1000 (12% of the goal!)! We're well on the way to making Beast of Balka a reality.

Don't forget to check out the Kickstarter page for more info!Thanks for all of your support, and happy hunting!

A new post in the Bear Log is way overdue. ​So, ladies and gentlemen and everything in-between: let me tell you a tale...

Yes, he's pretty. No, it's not River, y'all.

The king of the land of Armello was corrupted; his health degenerating along with his morals. Brun of the Bear Clan, warrior-mage of the ancient Wylds, recognized that it was his mission - no, his duty - to put an end to the king's tyrannical rule and put himself on the throne. As the representative of the Bears, he would lead with wisdom and passion. The Wolf, Rabbit, and Rat clans, however, had different plans for who would rule Armello.

Through correspondence from his allies across the land, Brun learned of a challenge that would not only test his strength, but improve it. He set off for it, determined to complete any challenges presented to him in order to prove his prowess as a leader. His goal was to take out the king the only way he knew how - by force - and to avoid the many paths to corruption along the way.

Finishing his first quest, word of Brun's deeds sweept the land and as a result more influential denizens of Armello became eager to offer their aid to the Bear Clan. He gained a mysterious and fickle ally called The Stranger, the allegiance of a powerful Conjurer, he acquired better equipment, and completed many quests that took him all across Armello. Eventually, he earned the attention of other claimants to the throne. Thane of the Wolf Clan stood in Brun's way, but was unable to surmount the great bear's strength. This clash secured Brun a great deal of prestige, and, continuing to rid the land of evils, he maintained it. However, Thane did not take his loss well. He began to rampage across the southern half of Armello, desperate to gain some ground after his image was tarnished by Brun. Thane gained influence over a great deal of territory near the Bear Clan's homeland, but Brun continued his journey unfazed.

However, Brun's days of glory did not go uninterrupted forever. After leaving a settlement under attack to fend for itself for fear of the costs of attempting to save it, a monstrous, corrupted Bane caught him off guard in a karmic flurry of claws and feathers.

Brun's quest for the future of Armello begins.

Defeated, Brun retreated to his homeland. He was bitter about his failure, and felt shame for the trace of Rot that the Bane left coursing through his body as a souvenir of the encounter. Despite this, Brun recovered and set out again without hesitation. He was still highly favored by the king and was granted the opportunity to participate in a Royal Challenge. He succeeds without trouble, and his position allows him to make many decisions on behalf of the king to aid him on his way to the throne.

After Brun's long adventure, the time to strike approached and Brun attempted to gather his allies for a final assault on the king's palace. Through his many quests and connections, he was granted free entry to the palace, and had many resources at his disposal.

However, it was clear that the other claimants to the throne saw Brun as a major threat to their own daydreams of power. Barnaby of the Rabbit Clan tried to slow Brun's advance by opposing him directly, but though he had immense, legendary armor, Brun struck him down. Zosha of the Rat Clan used her skills in subterfuge to bribe one of Brun's closest allies. Even Thane, Brun's most dangerous foe, stood in his way. He wounded Brun, but did not hinder his march for the castle.

It was here that Brun had some second thoughts. The king had trusted him, and his health was waning; Brun was the clear choice for his successor. Brun, however, wasn't one to wait. His place on the throne of Armello was to be determined by his own hand.

Challenging the king to mortal combat, Brun brandished his weapon and charged. It was clear that the king, eyes burning with evil and hatred, had enough strength to put up a fight.

The king fed off of the rot he could sense in Brun, and turned it against him, growing his own dark power. However, even that was not enough to resist. Brun relentlessly crashed into the king, roaring and calling upon the Wylds to give him strength. The king's reign ended before Brun even suffered a scratch.

And that, my friends, is the story of how Brun saved Armello from its corrupt king. Thanks for reading! Armello is an excellent game. Continue the Bear Clan's legacy: check out Armello for yourself!

A few days ago, Beast of Balka made one of its first public appearances since its announcement through a small local unpub at one of Little Rock's friendly local game stores: Game Goblins. Beast of Balka was there along with Lineage: 1434 and Honor Bound, as well as some very early prototypes by other local designers. It was a great experience overall, and I got some really helpful feedback.

Everyone that played BoB seemed to really enjoy it, and felt like it required minimal - if any - changes. The main complaint had to do with the tiny size of the art on the pieces, but that will most certainly be remedied once we move on to the main manufacturing run.

It's very likely that we will schedule another playtesting day early next month, perhaps with more advance notice so that we will have a better turnout. Regardless, I had an excellent time, and it gave me such a fuzzy feeling to have people playing, and enjoying, the game.

Many thanks to everyone that participated during the playtest, and to Game Goblins for hosting an event for us obnoxious game designers!

As a bit of a late Christmas present, today I was greeted with a package: containing nothing less than the most up-to-date prototype of Beast of Balka!

It's not perfect (probably due to some confusion during the order) but this is getting very close to what the final version of the game will look like. ​

The board In the final version will be a few inches smaller (10" x 12", with a quad fold). As a result, those 1.25" pieces will probably end up being too big. To test a few different kinds of tokens out, I went ahead and ordered 1", interlocking poker chips to see what those were like as well. Here are the results:

I love the way the smaller tokens interlock, and they will be a MUCH better size for the board. However... that art is so tiny! Using the templates provided, the stickers had a pretty wide border berth. I understand why it's there, but it's a shame that so much of the stickers are wasted space, since I really want to be able to show off the awesome art that Donny Zethmayr has done for the game. It's also really nice to have the textured/interlocking pieces (especially since they are going to be only 1" in diameter), so that while moving the stacks of pieces they don't slide around or fall over while moving them around the board.

Which do you like better? The flatter pieces that do a better job of showing off the art, or the interlocking pieces that reduce it to tiny icons? Hopefully I'll be able to find interlocking poker chips that have a wider middle space for the final version of the game, but I'm having trouble deciding which is the best option for the prototypes.

Thanks for reading! We would be happy for any feedback. You rock. Yes, you!

​Thanks to our friends at Print and Play Productions for providing the prototype (and giving us a reason for such awesome alliteration).

It's time to officially unveil Beast of Balka, the first game from Bearicade Games!

Beast of Balka is a fast-paced abstract strategy game designed for two players. In the game, the players take on the role of warring clans, competing to be the first to slay a monstrous Beast. The Beast of Balka only appears every 500 years, and the victorious clan not only earns 500 years of bragging rights, but also their god's dominion over the world. Stakes are high for both clans, and as such they are willing to send large groups out into the wilderness for the sake of the hunt!

The jungle is rife with beasties big and small, and there are many dangers for them to look out for besides the other clan. These monsters are typically skittish and don't fight back, but they can easily trample a hunting party while desperately trying to avoid an attacker.

Mechanically, the game is played in turns, with each player either moving or attacking with one of their hunting parties on a uniquely-shaped hex-based board. Dice are rolled based on the hunting party's bloodlust level to determine damage (it's not, however, a luck-based game). The game is over when either the Beast of Balka has been slain, or when one clan has no more hunting parties to attack with.

Beast of Balka has been in development for over a year, and we are very excited to finally announce it! The game was created with the goal of being unique, fun, quick, and tactical. Like many other abstract strategy games, it's mechanically simple but can be strategically complex for those that want to delve into it. If you enjoy If you enjoy Hive (by Gen 42) and/or Hoplomachus (by Chip City Games), you will probably enjoy Beast of Balka! We will continue to post more information about the game, including photos, videos, and Kickstarter campaign dates as they become available.

​For more information, check out this page. BoB also has a page on Tabletop Generation, and we would be happy to answer any questions about the game.

We've found the game to end all games. Whatever you're doing right now, stop it, stop reading this, and check out Bear Simulator.

Bear Simulator, as you have probably guessed, is a game simulating life as a bear. Eating tasty foods, exploring your domain, mauling small creatures... it's all there. It seems to be a game in the vein of other silly simulations like Goat Simulator, but with a bit more structure and more BEARS. It recently ran a successful Kickstarter campaign. In all seriousness, this game looks like a ton of fun, and we'll definitely be keeping an eye on it as it approaches release.

Bear Simulator is currently being developed by Farjay Games. We expect perfection. No pressure.